Agenda and Minutes

AUL/PSC Report - JEB

Camden representatives have requested that we meet in Camden in June rather than May. The May meeting
will be in New Brunswick. The next regular meeting will be Thursday, April 22, in Newark, 9 a.m.

Four responses have been received to our networked printing request for proposal. The committee is
evaluating them.

Dave Hoover expressed need for some public services help to review VALE documentation and the setup and
expand understanding of the search engine. Ann Scholz-Crane, Linda Langschied, and Helen Hoffman are
trying to schedule with Dave. Jeanne has also asked them to look into what portions of SiteSearch
documentation can be brought forward into librarian and user documentation.

Jeanne met with Ellen Calhoun, Mary Fetzer, Rhonda Marker, who convened, Wen Hua Ren, and John Maxymuk
to discuss government documents issues. They also discussed if there is a need for a government
documents group and what type of group it should be. They recommended a systemwide group that should be
multi-SAC and appointed. Minutes are forthcoming.

Jeanne will be meeting with Rebecca Gardner and Ann Watkins to receive the report of the Extended Campus
Services Task Force. They will join us next month for a presentation and discussion.

The Remote Access guide is completed. Jeanne asked if it should also be available in print, and if the
text should be augmented for the print version since so much relies on links. The recommendation is to
print and keep the text exactly as it will appears on the web page.

The downloading and printing guide is in process. Testing and revision work was going on in several
places. Jeanne spoke with Leslie Murtha, the author, and issued a call for volunteers to help her make
the guide ready for the public. Mary Page and Rosemary McAndrews are now assisting her.

Two Internet workshops for our Friends members will be held next month. Jeris Cassel and Kevin Mulcahy
are teaching them. These sessions are well received and appreciated.

Sam McDonald would like comments on the page for web search engines on our new web site prototype.
Jeanne asked Jeris to have the instruction committee look.

Jeanne has prepared a preliminary proposal for providing library services to the Technology Center of
New Jersey. Different levels of service and remuneration to the libraries will be proposed, ranging from
the existing $60 corporate card to providing a full service on site library by contract. There are a few
more revisions to make to the proposal, and then it will be shared for comment.

No institution that is a member of the ACRL Public Services Directors of Large Research Libraries group
is using Web of Science linked with document delivery. ISI has been queried, but no response has been
received. The University of Delaware did their own programming to link document delivery to the Web of
Science database with their holdings blocked. A group will be appointed to work on the Web of Science
roll out. Ideas on competencies we need on it and expressions of interest are welcome.

There was discussion when CRL visited last year about giving CRL a higher presence on our web pages,
possibly even listing them in the list of Rutgers libraries pages. We have also considered loading CRL
records into IRIS, but that would mean a group of records that do not work with RRS and other services -
something SACOPS expressed concerns about for Sage. Z39.50 may be preferable. Jeanne asked Ron Jantz to
have WAC make a recommendation for placement on our web pages.

Two items from Cabinet are:

Budget Advisory committee for the long range plan has met twice and is working on the
collections area. SACCDM and Bob, especially, and Samson have been developing budget models.
The group is very high level, interested, and motivated.

There will apparently be a capital facilities improvement program, and Cabinet reviewed
and a number of projects to send forward, including Robeson renovation, CIIT, D21, Kilmer,
Science Libraries, Annex shelving and HVAC, and Alexander HVAC. Facilities will have a great
deal to say about how what projects are selected, and we suspect they have an interest in
fixing pesky HVAC systems, and so forth. As the program descriptions that go with the
proposed facility changes come along, Jeanne will bring them to SACOPS for discussion.

Jeanne attended the OCLC Research Library Directors Annual Conference held March 15-18th. The topic was
Transforming the enterprise. She shared notes from the plenary sessions and two post
conference OCLC Institute sessions on knowledge access management.

Systems / LIS Updates - AM/JG/AS-C/others

Ann Montanaro distributed database use statistics. She reported on several items:

Systems staffing is changing since Mark Witteman is leaving. There is also an opening
for a Unix administrator.

The current university license for such applications software from such vendors as
Microsoft does not permit use at home. A new license that will allow home use is in process.

The patron file is being used for the proxy server. UMDNJ are in a privilege class
not extracted for the proxy database. Just having a pin and barcode is not sufficient to
get remote access to our licensed e-resources. Alumni, guests, expired records are
examples of those who are excluded. It was observed that there has been a lot of
demand on Ask a Librarian for pins and barcodes.

Our 1998 cataloging records have been sent to OCLC, and we are within days of
having our back cataloging records accepted by RLIN. There will be a general announcement
when this occurs. Information about the update period will be included in the announcement.

Judy Gardner reported on several items:

Circulation and access services personnel are in the midst of Workflows training.
Workflows will be in production as circulation desks in early May.

Pick up and delivery locations list in the RRS drop down list will change soon.
The Music Library and the Ecocomplex, an inactive research station, will be removed,
two new sites of Atlantic Cape Community College in both Mays Landing and
Atlantic City will be added, and the phrase Resident personnel only
will be added to extension and research sites.

Borrowing of Rutgers law library materials will move to our online ILL form rather than RRS.

We are getting ready to expire old user records with lingering holds and lost items.

In response to a question, Judy noted that guests are not eligible for ILL but that the system does not
automatically check for status when a guest fills out the online form. The system does check for RRS.
There was comment that a user in Camden missed the submit button for RRS because they had to scroll to
see it. Anyone with similar reports from users should send them to Judy.

Sound Cards in Public PCs - AM

Ann Montanaro said that the PC Working Group recommended that there be no sound cards in public
machines. Acting on that recommendation, systems removed sounds cards from public and classroom machines
and installed them in 30-40 staff machines. There is now a request for sound cards in public machines
because of the many Internet resources that have sound and because sound is needed for instruction
purposes. The Knowledge Maze being developed in New Brunswick will have sound. There was discussion
about the purpose and importance of sound in the Knowledge Maze. It was recognized that the Music
Library and Media must have sound, that it will be useful for users with disabilities, and that it is
needed in electronic classrooms. Ann will determine the cost for sound cards and head sets for all
instructional machines and in two public machines per library systemwide. She will work with the PCWG to
determine the actual distribution once they are acquired. Judy Gardner will work with the Access
Services Committee to plan how headsets can be and led through the reserve process. It was recommended
that future equipment should be sound capable.

Access to Free Internet Databases - JEB, others

Jeanne distributed a packet of sample screens showing PubMed available through Ideal from the RUL web
indexes page, the NLM PubMed site, the US Department of Education ERIC site, and open databases
available through Galileo. Jackie Mardikian explained that PubMed links to our Ideal full text journal
through either the Ideal or PubMed sites. PubMed also provides access to other useful databases that
many universities have included in their packages. We may be able to rely on PubMed instead of Ovid
Medline down the road when it is more fully developed. PubMed is improving on a daily basis and is more
current than Ovid Medline. Commercial Medline providers were upset when NLM offered it free on the
Internet through PubMed, so it is likely we will not see the same enhancements as on the commercial
side. Jackie is reviewing the full text archive, and Ovid vs. PubMed is an issue raised with recent
focus groups with UMDNJ researchers.

Topics in the discussion that followed this introduction were: other Grateful Med databases are
available through PubMed by clicking in the side bar, they will all be moving into PubMed, we should
catalog all our databases in IRIS, we are not now cataloging all Internet government resources because
the area is so volatile, perhaps such items as free databases are the reasons we have subject web pages,
we could catalog all the PudMed related databases in IRIS, we need to review the cataloging in IRIS for
Medline, there are other government databases such as Energy Research Abstracts.

It was recommended that the next SACOPS meeting be held in a facility with Internet connections so we
can review the PubMed suite and other similar databases. Jackie and Ellen Calhoun will prepare the
demonstration. A recommendation for cataloging and web availability will follow.

Network Downtime - HAH, JEB

Harriette Hemmasi distributed copies of an exchange of memos she has had with RUCS about the consistent
network downtime for maintenance on Thursday evening in New Brunswick/Piscataway. The constant
scheduling for Thursday evening disenfranchises those whose schedules require that they use the
libraries at that time as well as those who teach or take classes that rely on technology. Suggestions,
in priority order, for a recommendation back to RUCS are: develop flexibility in staffing so that
maintenance can occur on the weekends, schedule maintenance for after 9 or 10 pm on Thursdays, change
the notification message to indicate that the network may come back up at any time. It was also
recommended that notices stating that the downtime may be shorter than announced be posted in each
library. Jeanne will draft on wording and distribute it for comment via email.

Discussion Topic: RU Online - HAH, JEB, RGS

Harriette distributed working guidelines developed by the AULs for defining and cataloging electronic
resources in IRIS. She also distributed examples of records from IRIS that showed 856 links to different
types of materials: full text or image, abstract, advertisement, table of contents, etc.

A primary issue was the relationship of an 856 to the library designation RU Online. Should there be an
856 only when the link is to full text or full image? Should URLs for related materials be moved to a
500 note? Only URLs in an 856 can be hot linked. For the Wiley and Oxford online journal packages, some
titles are available now only with abstracts, but they will become full text in the future. There will
not be time for catalogers to go back and add URLs when each title becomes available in full text. If we
add URLs in the 856 for related materials that are not the actual full text or full image of the
cataloged items, we need to add RU Online only for those items that are full text or full image. Just
the absence of RU Online is not sufficient to inform our users that the full text or image may not be
available. We also need a note in the 856.

The final recommendations are to:

Add RU Online to a cataloging record when the 856 hot links to full text or full image,
a mix of full text or full image and abstracts or tables of contents, or the 856 is the
original format of the resource

Do not add RU Online when the 856 hot links to related materials, AND add the note
"Related Materials".

A question was raised about the impact of our current practice of providing online access to ejournals
that come to us free as a result of a print subscription. When online access is no longer free and if we
cannot afford to pay for the online version, will we have raised false expectations among our user
population?

Harriette has asked catalogers to consider how best to provide access via IRIS to individual titles
within more complex packages, such as Dow Jones and ARTFL.

The Guidelines will be amended and posted to the staff resources web page as part of the cataloging
guidelines for electronic resources.

It was suggested that a name might be found for RU Online that better reflects our movement toward a
digital library.

Round Robin

Judy Gardner updated us on on several issues:

Everyone should put a bookmark on reference desk workstations for the RLG SHARES
On-Site Access Guide
(http://www.rlg.org/shares/oagindex.html).
In response to a question from Natalie Borisovets, she contacted Columbia University and confirmed
that Rutgers should continue to access them through the RLG agreement. The information that we
needed to issue Metro cards was not correct.

Everyone should also put a bookmark on reference desk workstations for the Metro online
address directory (http://metro.org/). The print handbook is
more detailed and the latest (1998/99) was distributed to reference desks. Everyone was asked
to look around their reference areas for their copies and let Judy know if they wish another
to be ordered. There will not be another edition until 2000.

Judy received revised costs for processing from Harriette and will be reviewing
replacement and process fees with the Access Services Committee. Fees will probably rise.

Another web site to check is InfoLink
(http://www.infolink.org/). Judy noted that
newsletters-type flyers are distributed to Comet sites, and she will distribute copies
if there is interest. The home page has these materials, a training schedule, and other information.

Bob Sewell reported that the collections budget for next year is not yet known,
but under any scenario we will cancel journals. The process is beginning now. He
wants to identify and protect core journals. Core journals are most easily identified
in science areas through citation review and other methods. Possible cancellations
will be duplicates, print titles available online, lesser user titles. He received a
letter for the art history department noting that electronic journals are not appropriate
for art history.

Thelma Tate reported that the global services area is beginning to develop.
She is working with international visitors on the campuses and has met several groups so far.

Ellen Calhoun attended the annual patent and trademark seminar. Patents on DVD
will be coming later this year and will eventually extend back to 1790. Through the
patent depository program, LSM has an NT workstation that will handle DVD.

Ron Jantz shared two items:

A celebration of the web version of the Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank is
scheduled for next Tuesday, 3/29, at 1 pm, in the SCC. All are invited.

The first evaluation of the new web site prototype is scheduled for April 15.
There will another assessment in May. By June, the new web site will be an alternative
for users to begin trying, and by July, the new web pages will become official and available
parallel with the old site.